The Vagina Monologues - the Fairer Sex Speaks

The Vagina Monologues - The Fairer Sex Speaks

'The Vagina Monologues' is an episodic play by Eve Ensler that ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre in 1996. The play is a set of monologues read by various women artists, each monologue somehow relating to the vagina and painting a candid yet heart wrenching picture of varying degrees of atrocities, joy, pleasure, surprise and suppression that womanhood has been experiencing across ages in the form of love, sex, rape, menstruation, masturbation, violence, birth, orgasm or just as a part of the anatomy. This unconventional compilation of revelations through the most discreet part of a woman's body is a riotous protest against the politics of gender and power being practiced since time immemorial.

The work is 'unconventional' since the idea of a woman giving voice to her heart, be in pleasure or pain, still strikes as unconceivable to many. This play is a bold dialogue, recited out loud to an otherwise deaf audience. It is a question, many questions, that have been finally given a voice. It is a political statement, considered audacious by many, challenging the dominance, in its ghastly forms, forced upon womanhood. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality.

Instances in the script trace their sources to the interviews that the author conducted as a part of her research and the monologues are inspired from experiences of the women who were interviewed, verbatim in some cases. The author interviewed women around the globe, across the ages, cultures, religions and professions - young girls in their pre puberty, adolescent girls who have just 'arrived of age', Bosnian rape victims, successful corporates, women in Islamic countries, the comfort women, social activists, housewives, transsexuals, commercial sex workers, lesbian women. The list is endless and this tremendous exposure to the psyche of women all around the world gives credibility to the conclusion, though the conclusions essentially are for the receiver to draw. Every single monologue and character resonates the consistent buzz across cultures to celebrate womanhood, at last. An attempt is made in the following paragraphs to dig deep into these conversations and comprehend the sentiments being conveyed beyond the literal meaning of spoken words.

Eve Ensler opens the forum by her own little diagnosis of the word 'vagina'. Her memoirs of an interview with a high power businesswoman and a few other women reveal that the word itself is a taboo for most women. A word for a part of body, no different from a hand or a leg or neck or stomach, has been projected over the centuries as a vulgar expression; something that makes a woman flinch. The irony lies in the fact that we have invented several other 'less vulgar' expressions to suit our comfort and to think of it each of these words is more derogatory than the other. If there were to be compilation of slangs for words in English language, the word 'vagina' would probably cover an entire section.

In a later conversation, titled 'Hair', with a married Caucasian woman, a fact emerges. That woman has been assumed as an object of pleasure for men and her body doesn't belong to herself AND exploitation of her body by men has been, very politically, endorsed by religion, culture and society (patriarchal, I must specify). "She told me marriage was a compromise. She was sure it was a good beginning." And I silently wondered that why is it that the compromise is assumed to be made by and taken care of by the woman? Alice Walker raises a similar question in her novel 'The Color Purple' which was later adapted by Steven Spielberg into a movie. The book deals with the condition of African American women in the Southern United States, the plot revolving around the rural areas of Georgia. Through the fiction she stipulates that across cultures and races, women have been clinically molded to isolate the idea of pleasure from their existence. They have been subjected to the cruelest of atrocities to press upon them the idea of being an object of convenience. The extent and nature of these atrocities will be discussed later in the essay.

Eve Ensler takes a rather unconventional and interesting approach to understand the perception of women of themselves and what they would rather be. Answers to her two questions - "If your vagina got dressed, what would it wear?" and "If your vagina could talk, what would it say, in two words?" - are quite fascinating.

To the first question there were answers that implied a feminine excitement and fantasy - silk stockings, mink, emeralds, sequins, see-through black underwear, a leopard hat, a silk kimono.

Some were plain simple - jeans, something formfitting, a pinafore, cotton.

And there were answers that edged towards the indicative desire of belonging to the other gender - a beret, a leather jacket, a male tuxedo, Armani only, combat boots. However these could be interpreted as an expression of the respondent's sexual fantasies or as an innocent mischief.

The second question received responses that indicated primarily to the sexual act but there were some contradictions - Oh God; Thank God.

Each statement in response to these two questions is a story in itself. It is a mood, a joke, a compliment, a desire, satire, gratitude, love, want, need, lust, fulfillment - everything.

"I was twelve. My mother slapped me." The title speaks for the girls who had just reached puberty or were anticipating coming of age. The phenomenon does spring some uncertainties, worries and anxiety among young girls and the response of their families, especially mothers, plays an important role in the way they begin to perceive themselves. This instance is of importance because it defines their personality forever. They either learn to appreciate being of the gender or form a conflicting opinion of their sexuality. The section quotes some responses that could have had a negative influence on the girls already in the state of confusion -

"My mother gave me codeine. We had bunk beds. I went down and lay there. My mother was so uncomfortable."

"My